I have a couple XenServers at my disposal, so VM creation isn't a problem. Do they want all the VMs running under Hyper-V on Windows Server 2008, or do you think I could create a Xen VM for each system? Do they want them all patched to the latest versions?

I also wonder if they want them all powered on at once. Might have to free up some substantial resources if that's the case. Any suggestions much appreciated!

In my CEH class, the VM's were installed under Hyper-V, solely because they had a lack of machines to be able to dedicate extra ones as Xen servers, etc. But in the context of the labs and what we did, Hyper-V wouldn't have been necessary, otherwise. You should be able to setup Xen VM's for everything, if that's what you have available.

~ hayabusa ~

"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved." - Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War'

Right, it shouldn't matter as long as you have access to those operating systems to follow the lab instructions - and you should be able to have them fully patched. I haven't actually looked through the course books but I'm pretty sure the labs are the same as iLabs (which I have used).

BillV wrote:...and you should be able to have them fully patched. I haven't actually looked through the course books but I'm pretty sure the labs are the same as iLabs (which I have used).

I'm hoping that works out better than it did for our Pilot class... "Fully patched" gave some of the exercises a little grief, and we had to do a little 'monkeying' with things. But they might've worked out a few bugs since then.

~ hayabusa ~

"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved." - Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War'

I'm hoping that works out better than it did for our Pilot class... "Fully patched" gave some of the exercises a little grief, and we had to do a little 'monkeying' with things. But they might've worked out a few bugs since then.

I just got done reading your review of your experience with the pilot, which made me start to question my patching. Very informative review, by the way. I wonder if I should go back and perform fresh installs on the machines that I patched up. That way I can always snapshot afterward and then re-patch during class if necessary. New Horizons has been somewhat vague on most things I've asked about the course so far, so it wouldn't hurt to be over-prepared.

hayabusa wrote:In my CEH class, the VM's were installed under Hyper-V, solely because they had a lack of machines to be able to dedicate extra ones as Xen servers, etc. But in the context of the labs and what we did, Hyper-V wouldn't have been necessary, otherwise. You should be able to setup Xen VM's for everything, if that's what you have available.

You got VMs? I got eleven million powerpoint slides and a "good luck" at the end.

I'm very glad that I went through the trouble of setting up my own lab ahead of time, and I strongly recommend that all future CEH course takers do the same. While our instructor did set up a decent environment for each user, we remote users are stuck with VNCing into our host machines and running VMWare Player to use our VMs. Lots of lag and keyboard input issues to say the least. My local VMs have been working perfectly for me, however, and since no one can see my screen, I also don't feel "under the gun" when doing lab excercises.

I don't want to start another topic for this, since I've kind of been spamming this forum with my questions anyway, so I'll bring this up here: After getting into the meat of this course, I've been feeling very confident of my abilities, as I've used and played with nearly everything we studied in class on my own over the past year or two anyway. Since tomorrow's our last day, I decided to get a jump on test preparation. Downloaded PrepLogic's 50-question CEH practice exam and tested. I do want to note that I believe it's an outdated practice test (seems to be v5 or 6,) but I was absolutely shocked to see that I failed pretty miserably. Twice. Since the practice exam contained a lot of old info, such as Windows 2000 exploitation and near-obsolete tools that I've never touched, I don't want to put too much weight into these results, but it's making me seriously reassess my skillset, or possibly even whether the official courseware is sufficient study material to pass the CEH.

Am I off-base in thinking this way? Or is the v7 exam that much different from the older versions? I was originally planning on taking the exam as soon as I could possibly get it scheduled, as class has been cake, but not so sure now.

To be honest, it's NOT that much different, based on the exam I had. My v7 exam seemed MUCH the same, with 'some' newer additions, from when I took it for my original CEH, 4 or 5 years ago.

In fact, it's my understanding that it's taken much from the same question pool, which just expands with the newer versions. Perhaps BillV can confirm, as he has contacts at EC, but that's my experience.

My recommendation / advice would be to continue studying, particularly on the more widely noted tools (nmap, etc) and their usage, and the various pentesting methods and terminology, and don't give up.

~ hayabusa ~

"All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved." - Sun Tzu, 'The Art of War'

I decided to try Sybex's practice exams last night. Getting much better results there. I did miss some questions, but passed all of their 20-question segments on my own with 85-100%. Found the areas I need to focus on and wlll be studying them throughout the week. In fairness, the PrepLogic demo practice test only had 50 questions, and there was a lot of focus on ancient tools that were never mentioned in 7.1 training. I probably should have diversified my practice testing before freaking out. :)

Either way, feeling a little more in-line with what I'm expected to know. A week's practice should seal the deal on the exam.